


more than i can take

by superhusbands4ever (Potterwatch97)



Series: Iron Dad & Spider-Son [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 13:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14522043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potterwatch97/pseuds/superhusbands4ever
Summary: Tony looked down at him, taking in the closed off posture, unsure what to do, and decided to sit down next to the kid. Peter didn’t make any move, simply continuing to stare down at his lap.They sat in silence for a few minutes, Peter keeping his mask on and his eyes down while Tony glanced back and forth between Peter and looking out at the skyline. He clasped his hands together and twiddled his thumbs for a moment before he decided he couldn’t take the silence anymore.“Rough night?”~Prompt: Peter has a nightmare about the building falling on him and so he goes out spidering in the middle of the night, which notifies tony and peter just sits on top of a tall building when his dad flies up to see if everything is okay and they talk about their nightmares and shit and it’s just a real good spider son iron dad moment





	more than i can take

**Author's Note:**

> this is literally just pure self-indulgent hurt/comfort right here. Soft Dad Tony Stark is my favorite
> 
> Prompt is from anon: Peter has a nightmare about the building falling on him and so he goes out spidering in the middle of the night, which notifies tony and peter just sits on top of a tall building when his dad flies up to see if everything is okay and they talk about their nightmares and shit and it’s just a real good spider son iron dad moment
> 
> I didn't do the prompt exactly, but it's the same general idea
> 
> Title is from the song Lego House by Ed Sheeran: "I think the braces are breaking and it's more than I can take."

Tony had just laid down in bed when FRIDAY’s voice came over the speakers.

“Mr. Parker has just left the building in his Spider-Man costume, boss.”

Tony groaned as he rolled over, rubbing his hands over his tired, burning eyes.

“What the hell is doing going patrolling at--” he glanced at the clock by his bed, “ _ four-fucking-thirty  _ in the morning.”

“He appears to be sitting on the roof, boss.”

“What?” Tony peaked out from between his fingers to stare at the ceiling. “He’s not out… Spider-Man-ing?”

“No, Boss. He appears to just be sitting on the roof in the Spider-Man costume.”

Tony let out an elongated groan before climbing out of bed.

“This kid will be the death of me,” he grumbled, pulling his pants back on and grabbing a hoodie.

He pulled it on and zipped it up as he walked down the hall and through the living room, grabbing the Star Wars throw blanket from the couch as he walked by. He eyed the landing pad for a moment before moving toward the elevator instead.

“He still on the roof, FRY?”

“He hasn’t moved for the last thirty minutes, boss.”

“Okay,” Tony said, stepping into the elevator and pressing the button for the roof. “Time for ‘20 Questions with Spider-Kid.’”

He shivered when the doors opened and freezing wind blew his hair back from his face. He stepped out and looked across the roof. He felt his stomach clench when he saw Peter in his Spider-Man costume sitting on the edge with his legs dangling over the edge. He was sitting with his arms crossed hunched over himself, his head hanging down looking at his lap.

He walked over slowly, making sure to make his footsteps louder so Peter would definitely hear him coming. Once he got close enough, he crouched down and lifted the Star Wars blanket, wrapping it around Peter’s shoulders.

“Why don’t we scoot back from the edge there, yeah?” Tony said softly, rubbing one of Peter’s shoulders.

Peter didn’t say anything or look at him but he nodded, lifted his legs, and spider-crawled back away from the ledge. Once he was back far enough he crossed his legs and went back to the position he was sitting in before.

Tony looked down at him, taking in the closed off posture, unsure what to do, and decided to sit down next to the kid. Peter didn’t make any move, simply continuing to stare down at his lap.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Peter keeping his mask on and his eyes down while Tony glanced back and forth between Peter and looking out at the skyline. He clasped his hands together and twiddled his thumbs for a moment before he decided he couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“Rough night?”

“Sorry,” Peter said softly, still not looking at Tony, “I know you said I’m not allowed out after one on weekends.”

“It’s okay,” Tony reassured him, now less concerned about the fact Peter had gone out after curfew and more concerned about the  _ why _ .

Peter grew quiet again, but Tony didn’t have the patience to wait for the stubborn kid to start talking.

“Wanna talk about it?” Tony asked quietly.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Peter said instead, ignoring Tony’s question. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“Well,” Tony sighed, “technically I hadn’t really gone to bed yet, so… you didn’t.”

“Still,” Peter said, suddenly sounding choked up, “I’m sorry if I’m being a bother.”

“What? You’re not a bother, Peter.”

Tony felt his alarm raise when Peter gave a little sniffle.

“Woah, hey,” Tony said gently, turning his body more towards Peter. “Hey, look at me.”

Peter wrapped his arms tighter around himself, but lifted his head to look at Tony. Tony stared into the white, slanted eyes of the Spider-Man mask.

“Mask  _ off _ , kid.”

Peter hesitated for a second before gingerly lifting his hands to pull his mask off. He stared down at it in his hands for a moment before turning to look at Tony again. Tony felt a pang in his chest when he saw how red Peter’s eyes were, unshed tears in his eyes.

“What’s all this for,” Tony said, lifting a hand to rest on the back of Peter’s neck. Peter’s eyes flickered back down to his mask.

“I didn’t want to bother you,” he said so quietly Tony almost didn’t hear. “I had a… I had a nightmare but I didn’t want you to know because I didn’t want you to think I was being weak or stupid so I came up here to talk to Karen about it but then FRIDAY told you and you came up  _ anyway,  _ and I--”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Tony interrupted, squeezing the nape of Peter’s neck, “take a minute. Breathe. It’s okay.”

Peter nodded jerkily, sucking in a deep, ragged breath, his fingers toying with the mask in his hands.

“Okay,” Tony said after a while once Peter’s breathing had evened out, “first things first. Peter, I am probably the  _ last  _ person on Earth who can call someone weak for having a  _ nightmare _ .”

Peter didn’t say anything but gave another little sniffle, his hands clenching around the mask.

“Second of all,” Tony continued, “I would never  _ ever  _ think you are weak  _ or  _ stupid, okay? I know you’re not weak, Peter, and you’re  _ definitely  _ not stupid.”

Peter nodded again.

“Hey, look at me,” Tony said, moving his hand to cup Peter’s chin and force him to look at him. Peter’s eyes were still watery, and Tony watched as a single tear managed to slip through Peter’s resolve.

“Peter, no matter what it is or what you think,” Tony said softly, wiping the tear away with his finger, “you will  _ never  _ be a bother to me, do you understand?”

He made sure to keep a grip of Peter’s chin and kept his eyes locked on Peter’s until Peter nodded slowly.

“I will  _ never  _ think you are weak or stupid for having a  _ nightmare,  _ okay? If something happens and you feel like you need to talk to someone you can  _ always  _ come to me. Not matter what I’m doing or how busy I seem,  _ you  _ will always come first. And I will never think any less of you for needing help. Got it?”

He held Peter’s gaze again until the boy nodded.

“Got it,” Peter whispered, “thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me, kid,” Tony said, briefly cupping Peter’s cheek with on hand before pulling back again. “But you’re welcome.”

Peter turned away from him again, but not before Tony caught the corners of his mouth tipping up.

“Hey, there it is! Smile!”

Peter rolled his eyes, but Tony saw his smile get a little bit bigger before disappearing again.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, Tony tipping his head back to look up at the sky while Peter fiddled with his mask again.

After a while, Peter spoke up in the quiet.

“It was… it was about homecoming. The Vulture.”

Tony looked over at Peter but said nothing, waiting for the kid to continue. He remembered that night, how upset he was when Happy called him to tell him someone had tried to hijack his plane, had tried to steal all his tech - the Avengers tech, his Iron Man suits, the alien tech, the arc reactors. But all of that had paled in comparison to how completely and utterly  _ terrified  _ he was when Happy told him Spider-Man had been the one to stop him, in his homemade onside suit no less, and that he had been on the plane when it crashed. He’d beaten himself up for days afterwards, angry at himself for taking Peter’s suit and not realizing Peter would just go back to what he was doing before Tony had come into the picture, fighting in that homemade costume with  _ next to no protection _ . He’d had his own nightmares about that for  _ weeks  _ afterwards.

“--at the warehouse.”

“Wait,” Tony said, holding up a hand to stop Peter’s story, “warehouse? What warehouse?”

“When I realized Toomes was going to go after your plane I tried to confront him so I could stop him before it got that far,” Peter explained quietly, hands still fiddling with the mask. “I found him in a warehouse and I tired to stop him. He set his Vulture suit after me. I kept dodging it and jumping out of the way, so I never realized it wasn’t even trying to hit me until it was too late. He was knocking down the support struts for the warehouse so it would collapse on me and he could escape. The roof was coming down on top of me before I even realized what had happened.”

Tony could feel his heart stop in his chest, could feel all the blood drain from his face. He continued to stare wide eyed at Peter until Peter kept talking.

“When I came to, I… I felt like I couldn’t  _ breathe _ ,” Peter whispered, “there was a bunch of dust in my mouth and there was water pouring down on my head and a huge slab of concrete had pinned me to the ground.”

Tony clenched his hands together and tried breathing through his mouth to stop the nausea. He thought he was going to puke.

“How did… how did you get out?” Tony asked, staring at the mask in Peter’s hands.

“I lifted it.”

Tony blinked. “What?”

“I lifted the concrete. It took a minute, but once I got my feet under me it got easier.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say you lifted a  _ building? _ ” Tony asked incredulously.

“What, like it’s hard?” Peter tried to joke, but his tone fell flat. The hands holding his mask were shaking now, and his breathing was picking up, getting uneven again.

“I was stuck under there and there was nobody else around,” Peter said, voice wavering, “I tried y-yelling out for help, but I was alone. I couldn’t breathe and everything h-hurt and I… I--”

Before Peter could say anything else, he suddenly felt a pair of arms grab him and pull him into their chest. Tony tucked Peter’s head under his chin, so Peter could hear the fast  _ thump-thumping  _ of Tony’s heartbeat. Feeling his resolve break, he pressed his head harder against Tony’s chest, wrapping his arms around the man’s waist and finally letting his tears slip out.

“I was s-so  _ scared, _ ” Peter choked out, his hands fisting the back of Tony’s hoodie. “I was alone and I… I thought I was going to-to  _ die  _ out there and nobody would even  _ know.” _

Tony’s arms clenched tighter around him and Peter felt him bury his face in Peter’s curls while Peter tried to burrow impossibly further into Tony’s chest.

“It’s okay,” Tony whispered, sounding close to tears himself as he rocked Peter gently back and forth while he cried. “You’re alright, it’s over. I’m right here, you’re okay.”

They stayed like that for a long time, Peter clutching at Tony while Tony swayed gently back and forth until his tears died down.

“I’m sorry I took your suit away,” Tony said, running his hand through Peter’s curls, “I shouldn’t have done that. If you’d had it I would’ve been notified when you were fighting the Vulture and I could’ve helped.”

“I don’t blame you,” Peter said, pulling back slightly to look up at Tony. “You were right, I was being irresponsible, I wasn’t listening to you. You were just trying to make a point.”

“Yeah,” Tony said bitterly, “a point that put you in even more danger.”

“I hadn’t planned to go after the Vulture that night,” Peter said, pulling fully away from Tony to wipe his face and pull the blanket tighter around him. “I had no idea he was Liz’s dad. Before that I had every intention of listening to you. But then he threatened me, and I knew I had to do  _ something,  _ so I--”

“It’s okay,” Tony sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead, “well, it’s not  _ okay,  _ but I promise I won’t ever take your suit away again. It’s yours, I have no right to take it. Besides, I should’ve realized you wouldn’t stop just because I took your new suit away. You’re stubborn like that.”

“Hi pot, I’m kettle,” Peter smirked, his eyes brighter as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

“Oh, ha-ha,” Tony laughed sarcastically, giving Peter a little shove, “you’re hilarious.”

Things got quiet again as Peter tried to straighten himself out again, rubbing at his face in a vain attempt to look like he hadn't just been crying. He reached down and picked up the discarded Spider-Man mask, picking some imaginary lint off the eye while he calmed down.

Finally, when he looked back over at Tony, Tony was just sitting there watching him, hunched over, hands shoved in the pockets of his hoodie, a small smile on his face.

“Thank you,” Peter said quietly.

“I told you, kid,” Tony said, reaching out to put his hand on top of Peter’s head. He breathed out a laugh at the way Peter went cross-eyed trying to look up at it. “You don’t need to thank me. It’s what I’m here for.”

“Now,” Tony said suddenly, pulling his hand back and pushing himself off the ground. “What do you say we go inside now. It’s cold out here and my old ass can only sit on the hard ground for so long.”

“Can we make hot chocolate?” Peter asked hopefully, grabbing the hand Tony offered him to pull himself up.

“Sure,” Tony said, throwing his arm around Peter’s shoulders as they walked toward the elevator. “But then you’re going to sleep. Because I don’t know if you know this, but it is five-thirty in the morning. And I am very tired.”

“Okay,” Peter laughed, pulling the blanket tighter around himself as he subconsciously leaned further into Tony’s side. He could smell Tony’s shampoo mixed with the workshop smells of metal and oil. It was a scent he was beginning to associate with comfort and strength. Safety.

Home.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr and send me prompts! My blog superhusbands4ever!


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